Foundation vent



April 21, 1959 s M. SQLA 2,882,961.

FOUNDATIION VENT Filed Dec. 13. 1955 Santiago Marin 50/0 INVENTOR.

United States Patent FOUNDATION VENT Santiago Marin Sola, Miami, Fla.Application December 13, 1955, Serial No. 552,795 1 Claim. (Cl. 160-104)This invention generally relates to foundation ventilation and moreparticularly to an improved foundation vent insert.

Heretofore there have been provided foundation vents having variablevent louvers for closing in the winter season. However, one problemconfronting the home owner has been the control of insects in the crawlspace under his home. In order to rid the crawl space of insects, it wasnecessary either to crawl under the entire house dragging an insecticidedispenser around or remove each of the existing foundation vents fromthe wall, which are normally set in mortar, treat the desired area withinsecticide, and then proceed to replace the vents. Besides being atiresome and time-consuming job, the removal and replacement of thevents often resulted in more expensive repair jobs, such as replacingbricks and blocks, broken as a result of the removal of the vents.Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to provide afoundation vent insert which may be installed in a foundation in theusual manner and which provides, in addition to serving in the usualmanner, an access opening for the insertion of an insecticide hose orpipe 'or any other discharge nozzle of an insecticide dispenser.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a foundationvent insert which is decorative and attractive in appearance as well asuseful.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a foundationinsert having an access opening with a closure means therefor which iseasily removed and replaced.

Other objects of the present invention will reside in its ease ofinstallation, adaptation for its particular purposes and its relativelyinexpensive manufacture and cost.

These, together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing bad to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of the corner of a building of blockconstruction showing the foundation vent inserts in a typicalinstallation, with parts of the walls broken away;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the foundation vent insert with aportion of the removable cap broken away showing the tubular accessopening; and

Figure 3 is a side sectional view taken substantially along a planepassing upon section line 33 of Figure 2 showing the closure cap removedand illustrating in dotted lines the position of the cap when installed.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that theimproved foundation vent insert consists of a rectangular frame,referred to in general by the reference numeral 10. The frame isinserted in a foundation wall 12, as shown in Figure 1, with the longeraxis lying in a horizontal plane and the frame in a vertical position.The frame 10 has an upper frame member 14 and a lower frame member 16joined at the ends thereof by end members 18 and 20.

As is best seen in Figure 3, the frame members 14 and 16 are of solidconstruction and are rectangular in crosssection with the largerdimension of the rectangle lying horizontally. The end members 18 and 20are likewise rectangular in cross-section, thus forming with the framemembers 14 and 16 a box-like frame having opposed faces 22 and 24.

Extending radially inward from each of the corners of the frame 10 thereare provided four support arms 26 which terminate at a centrallydisposed tubular member 28. The axis of the tubular member 28 ishorizontally disposed and provides an access opening therethrough fromthe outer to the inner side of a wall in which the foundation insert ismounted. The arms 26 have an inner face 30 which, together with an innerface 32 of the tubular member 28, are in coplanar relation to the innerface 24 of the frame 10. The tubular member 28 extends beyond the outerface 22 of the frame 10, and as best seen in Figure 3, the arms 26 areslightly tapered from the corners to their terminal point at the tubularmember 28. Further, the tubular member 28 is provided at the outer endthereof with a threaded portion 34 having an outer face 36 and a steppedouter face or shoulder 38 at the inner termination of the threadedportion 34, the purpose of which will be described hereinafter.

As is best seen in Figure 3, there is provided a discular cap 40 havingan outer face 42 and a circular aperture 44 which has internal threads46 and an internal inner face 48. The threads 46 terminate at the face48 on one end thereof and at an inner face 50 of the cap 40 at the otherend. The face 50 is parallel to the face 42 of the cap.

The cap 40 is threadably received on the threaded portions 34 and theface 50 positively engages the face 38 before the face 48 engages andbinds on the face 36. In this manner, unnecessary binding is prevented,and thus the cap 40 is more easily removed after it has been in positionfor a relatively long period of time wherein the threads and abuttingsurfaces would normally become rusted and hard to separate.

There is provided a screen 52 which is suitably attached to the innerfaces 24, 30 and 32 and terminates on the outer extremities at the frame10 and on the inner extremities at the tubular member 28.

In use, the foundation insert is installed in a typical wallconstruction in a position previously described and with the cap 40facing to the outside of the wall. When desirous of fumigating orspraying the crawl space or internal section of the foundation, the cap40 is removed and a hose or nozzle inserted through the tubular member28. The necessary fumigation having been completed, the hose is removedand the cap 40 replaced. In this manner, the entire crawl space may betreated from the various points at which the foundation inserts arelocated with the entire crawl space being treated without necessity ofentering the crawl space.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is asfollows:

An insert for a foundation wall of a building, said insert comprising anopen rectangular frame of sub- 3 stantial thickness, the opposed edgesof the frame being flat, parallel and having substantial width andthickness for supporting a weight load normally supported by a buildingblock, a plurality of inwardly extending arms connected with said frameand having a thickness gen, erally equal to thethickness of. theframe, atubular member having a longitudinal axis parallel to the edges of theframe and supported within the confines of the frame by said arms andbeing'connected with the arms, one face of said frame, aims and tubularmember lying in the same plane, a screen member secured to said one faceof the frame, arms and tubular member and forming a closure for theframe and permitting passage of air and light but preventing passage ofinsects, animals and the like, said screen having an opening thereincoin- 15 ciding with the passage defined by the tubular member therebyproviding an access passage through the insert, and a removable capmounted on the opposite face of the tubular member from the screen andbeing accessible only from the opposite face of the frame therebyenabling insecticide to be sprayed through the passage defined by thetubular member.

References Cited in the file of this patent 2,690,798 Hamlin Oct. 5,1954

